"Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

1. Your dish rack?

2. Your pets and their food bowls?

Thanks for any help!

Re: "Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

Message edited 9/8/2012 1:31:43 AM.

Re: "Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

I left them out. Just made sure they were clean.

Re: "Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

I was thinking of crating the dogs in the garage (we have 2 dogs). 99% of the time they won't bark but wondering what I should do to avoid that...maybe just take them away from the house if possible?

ARGH!

Maybe put the dishrack in the dishwasher or find a cabinet to put it in?

Re: "Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

I can tell you what NOT to do with the dishrack...

We went looking at a house that we really liked. Then we looked in the shower and lo and behold there was a dishrack and a bunch of dirty dishes and laundry. Totally turned us off!

Pets I would just clean up their area and leave it be. Cats I would leave in the house. Dogs, I'm not sure, but i'm inclined to say see if someone can watch them.

Re: "Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

I put those away every single showing. Including my dog beds. Those were put in a bag in my garage or in my car.

I am a SAHM so I left with the dogs every showing as well. Worked out great, alot of work but great.

Message edited 9/8/2012 11:43:40 AM.

Re: "Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

Most of the time, people who have cats just let them stay in the house (they usually hide under the bed or stay in one room). But definitely warn people who are showing so they don't have a heart attack if the cat runs by.

For dogs, most sellers who are home for showings will take the dog or dogs out back in the yard, whether permitting, and either keep them on a leash or bring them back inside when the agent/buyers go outside. If the owner won't be there for showings, may times they either have their agent come take the dog out, or they just put their dog in a crate.

But I have had several customers who are deathly afraid of dogs, no matter how small they are, and even a lot of barking makes them nervous, let alone sniffing, jumping, etc. Even if a potential buyer is a dog-lover, you don't want them distracted by the dog, playing with the dog, etc. v. looking at the house. So I think taking outside is preferable. Or just keeping them contained in one room would work, too.

I have a seller now who has 2 small dogs and she even arranged for them to stay with her mother during the week so we can show freely when she is not home.

Whatever you do, please don't expect agents and buyers to be responsible for not letting your pet out. I HATE when I go to a house with a key or a lockbox on it and get the instruction (or see a sign) to make sure the cat doesn't run out. It makes me so nervous that someone's beloved pet could quickly dart out, and then what am I supposed to do do? Chase it? I would feel terrible if something happened. Very stressful!

The key is to make the showing as comfortable as possible for the buyers, so if the pets can be out of the picture or contained to one area of the home, all the better. And obviously, keeping the house meticulously clean and smelling fresh is very important.

I would just try to put the food bowl in an inconspicuous place (not in the middle of the kitchen, even if that's where it usually is). So maybe out on the back deck or in the garage or someplace like that, just for the showing.

I think the dish rack could stay out, if it just has clean dishes drying in it, as long as it's not one of 10 other things on the counters. If it looks too cluttered, maybe stick it in a cabinet, under the sink or something.

Good luck with you showings! I think it is great that you are even thinking about all of these things. Hope you get a quick sale!

Re: "Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

Very helpful, thank everyone!

DH's parents offered to take the dogs for a week (they're 2.5hrs away). We were hoping for longer because they have watched them longer before but maybe we should take them up on the week...who knows, that first week could be where we get a lot of interest (I hope!)

Thank you!

Re: "Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

I would leave everything out! Just keep it Clean.

Re: "Showing" your home...what did you do with these items?

Brought the dogs to "grandma and grandpa" whenever we did a showing and for open houses -- they only live a few minutes away so it worked for us. Brought the crates with them.

We don't have a dish rack but if we did I would put it away.

The dog bowls I put away neatly in the pantry.